Omaha daily bee., 1887-05-30
Oaklanti's Rig Fire.

OAKLAND, Ia. May 2o.-ISpecial Tee
gram to the BEE. l-Oakland is in ashes.
Twenty-six business buildings and three
storage sheds were swept away. More than
half the business portion of the town is in
ruins. On Saturday. about l.30 p. M. fire
broke out in the hardware and furniture
store Of Huff IL Perry, on the east side of
Main street, and spread rapidly in both di-
rectjous. The alarm was given as soon as
the fire broke out. but by the time the iremen
reached the scene 1t was plainly seen that
nothing could save that street. so all that
was attempted was to save as much as possi-
bic of the contents. A gentle breeze
was blowing from the south, and the fire
spread SO rapidly towards the north that
comparatively nothing could he saved from
the building in which it originated, or those
anywhere near it. On the north from the
building to the south of the fire more was
saved, as the flames spread more slowly in
that direction. The Who'll Q east side of Main
street was laid in ashes except the bank
building, which is Of brick and st ands on the
south end of the row, and q small dwell
ing and printing Office on the
north end of the row. For a
time it was hoped that the fire
could be kept from crossing the street. but
such hopes were futile, for soon the fire was
communicated 10 tie Implement store OF T..
j. Hartwell and 1t and four Others were
| mass of flames The postoffice and Len
ocker n Winnings drug store were saved by
almost superhuman efforts, they having been
| intense as to break all the glass in the win
dows, but the men stuck to their work and
| kept the building so saturated that the flames
| could not communicate with it. Another
brave fight was made on the residence of MIR.
| Rudolph, AS 1t was quite apparent that If
| it was allowed to burn, that all the buildings
on Oakland avenue were doomed. Here the
men fought lire until exhausted when their
| places were filled with fresh men. Mayor
| w. a. Davis telegraphed for assistance to
| Avoca ana in just thirty-tive minutes after
sending the dispatch the train pulled into
| Oakland with the Avoca fire BOYS and their
| engine. Having no water facilities the boys
| had TO take their engine to the river and lay
their hose through the brush for long dis
tance to reach the fire. But when they be-
gan to play upon the buildings a sense of re-
by this time nearly exhausted. The list of
burned buildings and their owners are as
follows: follows II: a; Gotf, flour exchange; George
buildings, occupied by IL. Vieth as an imple-
ment store; John Williams. livery barn; }.
f. Ellis, vacant building; Mrs. Moses milli-
Estes, store building; Mr.. Bales, store build
ing; Norton & Bryants, two buildings, oc-
cuped as hardware furniture store. C. fl.
Converse, law office: Balkans & Toothakers,
| uIuS StoIe' Slty I1Otcls Ilull @ leIIy, IaTu-
ware and furniture store; Emmert,
barber shop; DIR. Bender, office;
drug store; Gus Lots. barber shop; Hart
well, implement store; Hagebook & Co..
harnsss shop; Graham 4 Farnsworth, market;
TObey's blacksmith shop; j. l.. Fetter's law
office and Chase and lIeston's carpenter
shop. The fire is supposed to have originated
from bottle of spirits of turpentine which
was lett on the window-sill, and is supposed
to have exploded from the heat. The est